The Carl Cherry Center for the Arts is pleased to announce the 25th Annual Robert Campbell Monterey High School Poetry Awards. The contest is presented in conjunction with Thinking Out Loud, a series of programs devoted to high school arts and poetry. An awards ceremony honoring the student poets will be held Saturday, April 29th, 2018, at the Monterey Public Library on Pacific Street in Monterey.

High school students in Monterey County are invited to submit up to three poems to the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, P.O. Box 863, Carmel, California 93921, or info@carlcherrycenter.org. All submissions must be received no later than March 29th, 2018. Award recipients will receive a certificate of merit, cash award, and a book containing this year's prize winning poems.

The Monterey County High School Poetry Awards were established in 1993 to recognize and promote excellence in high school poets, and to develop an interest in creative expression through the written word. The awards acknowledge two fundamental insights: the redemptive power poetry can play in the lives of students, and the importance of sustaining poetry as a legitimate art form in today's digitally driven culture.